47 pages • 1-hour read
A Guardian and a Thief
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence and death.
The Hexagon
The hexagon is an island in the river flowing through Kolkata. It is the private property of a billionaire and becomes a key symbol of The Urgency of the Climate Crisis in the novel. The hexagon is a mystery for most of the novel, with Ma noting that the billionaire ships food for the shelter regularly, though those deliveries have become increasingly sparse. Early on, the characters note that the billionaire’s daughter is getting married on the hexagon, and there are rumors of a feast for anyone with children. This framing blurs the line between the billionaire and her island representing charity or segregation, establishing the hexagon as a symbol of both wealth and discrimination.
On one hand, the hexagon preserves Kolkata’s beauty, with Boomba noting how the island looks and feels like a city he never saw, prior to the climate crisis. The billionaire hoards wealth and goods, making the hexagon into a kind of conservation site. There is food, cool air, water, and safety. When the guests riot on the island, their violence and theft contrast with the peaceful appearance of the hexagon, making it look like they are destroying what little portion of old Kolkata remains.
However, on the other hand, the hexagon is a direct symbol of the inequality of the city. The billionaire, having amassed wealth and property, can keep her island pristine while the rest of the city starves. The novel explores how the billionaire, despite her acts of charity, is still contributing to a system that prevents the regular residents of Kolkata from ever escaping poverty and starvation, while she remains untouched by the climate crisis. The hexagon thus becomes a symbol of how the wealthy can remove themselves from crises, protecting their own property at the cost of others’ lives and well-being.
The Passports and Visas
When Ma goes to get new visas and passports, she refers to the “kingdom” that oppresses her and the other residents of Kolkata. The visas and passports are the required documentation of this “kingdom,” which is effectively the global political systems governing the climate crisis. When Ma’s family first gets their passports, they see them as letters of acceptance, confirming their right to leave Kolkata. However, when the passports are stolen, Ma sees how the documentation cannot fully encompass her family’s needs, and without them, they are abandoned by the same kingdom that just granted them access.
While the passports symbolize hope in the sense that they provide a way out of Kolkata, this hope is temporary and fraught with challenges. The passports are stolen, the fake passports are unreliable, and even when Ma acquires the original passports, the flights are canceled. At every step of Ma’s journey, the passports are a false hope, presenting the idea of escape without the actual means to execute that escape. In the end, as Ma lies to Baba, telling him that she and Mishti are on the plane, she is only following through on the lie of the passport itself.
Critically, the passports also represent the inevitability of the global crisis of the novel: climate change. America stops accepting immigration because climate visas are leading to too many people coming to the United States. This mass migration recalls the influx of people into Kolkata from flooding and droughts, which led to the increased tension and suffering of the novel. In this way, the passports represent a transfer of suffering, rather than escape, since the mass migration foreshadows the worsening climate crisis, which will eventually impact Michigan as well.
Cauliflower
Mishti’s favorite food is cauliflower, which she calls “flower-flower.” The cauliflower is a symbol of Survival Ethics in a Collapsing System, as cauliflower and other whole foods are becoming increasingly scarce in Kolkata—Ma notes early in the novel that there have not been any deliveries of cauliflower to the shelter. Instead, the recent deliveries have been protein bars, and the most common vendors in the streets are selling “tastes,” the literal taste of food without the substance. Dadu manages to find some cauliflower, but he must steal it and sustains injuries in the encounter that lead to his death. This framing turns cauliflower into a symbol of life, as opposed to survival, which is critical even in desperate times.
Small moments and achievements occasionally enable characters to transcend the need for survival, allowing them to enjoy something despite their desperate circumstances. While Ma is panicking about visas and passports, Mishti just wants her favorite food for dinner. When Dadu essentially dies to get Mishti cauliflower, Mishti does not understand the weight of that decision; she simply enjoys her meal. Dadu and Ma’s choices thus reflect their determination to indulge Mishti in any way they can, which in turn often leads them to ignore how extreme their actions towards others are becoming.
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